I Belong to You
by Amethyst Daydreamer
Summary: Sequel to A Very Percy Christmas.  Takes Place the summer after that story.  AU for The Lost Hero & Son of Neptune- will not be made compliant to Heroes of Olympus cannon.  Read AVPC first.
1. Prologue: Missing

A/N: Well, I know I said I wanted to finish the other fic I have been working on before posting this but thanks to a great reviewer, I have decided to get this fic going sooner rather than later. You can all thank xxxGoldrusherxxx for the story being started and posted. Seriously. Go thank him. You owe him big. This is un-Beta'd so let me know if you catch any mistakes. Also, FYI- I have not read The Lost Hero yet so we are going way AU with this. Carry on. Hope you like it. _**How about when we reach 10 reviews, I'll put up the next chapter since it is writing itself so quickly and because I'm liking it. :) Heck- if I keep getting a decent number of reviews, I'll even try to continue with the quick updates...**_

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**Prologue**

In a small apartment in New York City, Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, is frantically searching his room for his Camp Half Blood necklace. It has to be around here somewhere. Honestly, how do you lose something in a room this small, he thinks to himself. He is rushing about because he is in a hurry to leave for camp. He could always look tonight and leave tomorrow but he feels like he HAS to be there tonight.

Percy hasn't seen Nico Di Angelo in two weeks. The last time Percy saw Nico had been when Nico shadow walked right into his room in the middle of the night and woke him to tell him that he was going to be stuck in the Underworld for the next few weeks. Nico hadn't really told Percy why he would be out of contact or what he would be doing but after two weeks without one word from Nico, Percy is beginning to lose it.

Suddenly, Percy sees something promising way back under his bed. He reaches as far as he can and just manages to hook a finger onto what looks like the leather cord of his camp necklace. Triumphantly, he pulls it out from under the bed only to see that while it is his necklace, it's being weighed down by something. Once the necklace is out in the light, Percy can see that there is a large, heavy ring threaded onto his camp necklace. Turning the ring over in his hand to examine it, Percy realizes what it is. It's Nico's ring- a chunky skull with dark, blood red gemstones for eyes. It reminds him vaguely of that old movie he watched with his mom when he was younger, the one with the rescue mice who save the girl being used to find a diamond that is hidden in a skull. What in the world is Nico's ring doing there? Percy unties the leather cord of his necklace and slips the ring off before re-tying the cord and slipping the necklace on. Why would Nico leave his ring here, Percy wonders. It was a gift from his dad, Nico would never just leave it somewhere. Percy feels the sudden urge to put the ring on his left hand ring finger. Demigods get weird feelings like that sometimes, he thinks, might as well go with it. Once the ring is safely on his hand, he stands and grabs his things before heading for the living room. He is more than ready to be on his way to Camp Half Blood.

Percy just can not sit still on the ride to camp with his mom. He's tapping his foot and drumming his fingers on the window. Has the drive to camp gotten longer, he wonders.

"You could be in a little less of a hurry to leave me for the summer, you know," Percy's mom jokes, sneaking a glance at him.

He stops fidgeting and turns to look at his mom. "Sorry. You know I'm not in a hurry to leave you."

His mom smirks at him. "No. You are in a hurry to see Nico, though." She chuckles.

"I don't even know if he IS there." Percy gripes, rolling his eyes and sighing.

"I'm sure he's fine and you'll see him soon. I bet he misses you just as much as you miss him, honey."

After what seems like an eternity, they pull up in front of the huge camp sign. Mrs. Blofis reaches under her seat and hands Percy a bag. "Blue snacks for you and Tyson. Some... personal stuff for you and Nico. You'll see. Have a great summer and try to stay out of trouble for once." She ruffles his hair and kisses his cheek.

"I'll be fine, mom. Love you, see you in August." Percy stuffs the bag into his backpack and slings that over his shoulder then grabs his duffel bag before beginning the walk through the gate and down the drive way to the big house.

As he nears the big house, Percy hears someone yell, "Percy!" and then he is tackled to the ground. Squinting, he looks up at Annabeth who has him pinned to the ground.

"It's about time you got here, Seaweed Brain!" She jumps up and offers Percy her hand. Once he's on his feet again, he notices Chiron standing just behind Annabeth.

"Welcome back, Percy." Chiron gives him a quick hug. "You know where your cabin is and when dinner will be served. I have to go supervise the clean up over at the Demeter cabin. Someone covered their roof with shaving cream. See you two at dinner." Chiron turns and canters off in the direction of the cabins.

Annabeth takes Percy's duffel bag and starts walking towards the cabins. "So, how've you been?"

"Alright. So... who all is here so far?" Percy asks, not so subtly looking for information.

Annabeth grins, not fooled for a minute. "Grover was in the woods with Juniper. The Stolls were setting off stink bombs at the Aphrodite cabin. Hmmm... Rachel is probably in her cave painting and whatever. Tyson should be in your cabin- he wanted to see you when you got here."

Just as they reach the door to the Poseidon cabin, Percy gets up the nerve to ask what he really wants to know. "Have you seen Nico?"

Annabeth's face clouds slightly. "No. He hasn't been here that I know of. But if he came at night and refused to answer when we knocked for inspections... there is the chance that he is here." Her face clearly saying that she thinks that the chance of that happening is remote.

"Oh. Ok, thanks." Percy pushes open the door to find Tyson sitting on one of the extra bunks.

As soon as he is through the door, Tyson jumps up and rushes to scoop Percy up in a tight hug. "Brother! I have missed you! Father has sent me here to spend the day with you!"

"It's great to see you too, Tyson. How have you been? It looks like you've grown." Percy chuckles at his brother before dumping his bags into the foot locker trunk at the end of his usual bunk. "You didn't need to clean for me, Tyson. I could have done it." Percy plops down on his bunk facing Tyson on his.

"I'll see you later, Percy. I need to go check on something over at my cabin. Bye, Tyson!" Annabeth turns and leaves, closing the cabin door behind her.

"Father has sent a gift for you." Tyson pulls a box that appears to be made of a clam shell from his pocket. "He said you would know what it is for when the time is right. And I brought you some new knives. I made them for you."

Percy puts the shell box into his foot locker and turns his attention to the knives Tyson is handing him.

"These two are throwing knives. And this is a knife for hand to hand combat."

Percy takes each of the knives in turn and admires them. The throwing knives feel great in his hand. The handles are made of carved abalone that shines. The blades have blue tridents etched into them. The other knife has a handle that looks like it was carved from a giant pearl. The blade is etched with the blue trident near the hilt with waves swirling and spiraling down to the tip.

"Wow, Tyson. These are amazing thanks!" Percy hugs his half brother tightly before placing the knives in his trunk. Just then, they hear the conch blowing in the distance to signal the start of dinner. "Come on, let's go eat, little brother." Percy chuckles as they leave the cabin on their way to the dining pavilion.

Later that night, Percy is asleep in his bunk with Tyson snoring in the bunk beside him when he hears something. "Percy... Percy..." Percy sits up in his bed and continues to listen. "Percy..." The voice seems to be coming from outside. Grabbing his short knife out of his footlocker and sliding it into the waistband of the gym shorts he wore to bed, Percy creeps out the door and into the night. "Percy..." The voice seems to be coming from the far end of the circle of cabins. Looking down the ring of cabins, Percy notices that the door to the Hades cabin is wide open but the interior is pitch black. Quietly, he creeps down to the Hades cabin. He climbs the stairs with his back to the door. Taking a deep breath, Percy steps into the cabin and the door swings shut behind him. At the same moment a small red flame appears in front of him in the center of the cabin. The red flame is floating just above a hand. Percy's breath is driven from his lungs as his eyes adjust and he sees Nico's face illuminated in the light of the flame.


	2. When These Pillars Get Pulled Down

A/N: We're now going back to Nico's POV for the remainder of the story because, honestly, I like writing from Nico's snarky little mind. OK guys, so from now on: 10 signed reviews per chapter to earn the next. :) Hope you like it.

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After two long weeks alone in the Underworld with my father, I was finally free to leave for Camp Half-Blood. I change quickly in my room before grabbing the black backpack and duffel bag off my bed. I'm SO out of here. I miss Percy.

I check myself in the mirror in the bathroom before heading out. Gods, when had I become such a girl! If Bianca were here she would be laughing so hard right now. Studying myself in the mirror, I check for anything that looks off. Let's see, black shirt- check. Black pants- check. combat boots-check. Urgh, one thing that I could not fix was my hair. It had been growing out of control for a while now and had needed cut, so genius that I was I had tried to do the job with my knife. Not the best idea I had ever had. Now my hair is kinda layered and jagged looking. I look SO emo. Urgh. Oh well, I'm not going to try to fix it and make it worse. I leave the palace for the gardens and find a suitable shadow to use to get to camp.

I step out of the shadow next to the Hades cabin. It is pitch black out except for the light of the moon. Woah. I did not think it was this late. I slip into the door of the cabin and toss my bags on one of the other beds. I don't know why there are other beds when, thus far, there is only me here. Maybe it's proof that my father is planning to cheat on his wife again. There are days when I wouldn't blame him if he did. His mother in law is all kinds of annoying and Persephone is well, so not worth it if you ask me.

I wonder if Percy is here but know that I can't go check because if he is here then Tyson might be too. Hmmm. I decide to try calling to him with the shadows. It's a power that I haven't used yet but one that I mastered in practice. Standing in the middle of the room, facing the door, I close my eyes and send out the power as I whisper his name. "Percy... Percy..." I continue concentrating on the power and whispering his name until I hear a noise outside.

Quickly, I summon shadows to cloak myself in, just in case it is anyone other than Percy, you know, like the patrol harpies that supposedly enforce curfew. I notice that the power has blown the door open and my heart thunders in my chest. At last, I see Percy appear on the steps and my heart stops. Gods, I missed him. He's coming up the stairs. The moment that he is inside I release the power that I'd been summoning and the door shuts itself behind him. I call a Will O Wisp flame to my hand. Staring into his eyes, the need to be with him is so consuming that I quickly cross the room to him and shove him up against the black stone wall.

My mouth is on Percy's and it's not at all gentle. "Gods, Percy, I need you." I pull back panting.

"Ok." He smiles that goofy lop sided smile of his and pushes me back enough to remove the gym shorts he had obviously been sleeping in. Percy grabs my hand and drags me to the bed. He kneels down and begins to untie my boots. Once he's tossed them under the bed, he turns his attention to my pants and belt. "Geez, Nico. You wear a sword belt to camp? Are you that worried that one of the Aphrodite girls will try to attack you?" He chuckles as he undoes the belt and opens the fly on the pants. The heavy belt drops to the floor with a thunk, pulling the pants off. Percy giggles. GIGGLES?

I cock an eyebrow at him. "Seriously? Did you just giggle?"

Percy yanks my boxer briefs down my legs then pulls my black shirt off over my head. I smirk and push him roughly onto the bed. "Did you miss me, Fish Boy?"

"YES!" He gasps loudly and tries to wriggle closer to me as I straddle him, holding him to the bed while leaning over to cover his chest in kisses.

"How much?" I grin as I start licking my way down his chest towards his hips. "Just a little?"

"No... n-no. I missed you so much. You know that." Percy's heart is racing and he's panting hard below me. As I make my way to the hollow of his hips, I stop in my tracks.

"What is this?" Breathless, my question sounds like a whisper. There on the inside of Percy's hip, an exact mirror of the location where my star is, is a ….. "Is that a TATTOO? I thought you said..." My eyes snap to his face.

"It's sort of a tattoo. Remember the tattoo parlor, in New Orleans?" I nod, slowly. "I had the guy draw it up then have these really good fake tattoos made and mailed to me. They're like the ones they use in movies. You know like that chick movie my mom likes with the wolf dudes? They're temporary but they last like a week. I figured it would look less …. abnormal if we both had them. Maybe people would ask fewer questions." He blushes bright red. "And I kinda wanted your mark on me."

Stunned, I lean in to kiss him. "Wow. Love you." I turn my attention back to the tattoo. Even in the dark I can see what it is. It's a very realistic skull, it looks anatomical and not stylized. There are red and black flames framing it and it has eyes the color of pomegranates. Wow. It is awesome. I kiss it reverently before continuing my journey downward.

My mouth covers him and I lightly run my teeth over him. I'm rewarded by Percy whimpering and clutching at the bed sheets. I relax my jaw as best I can and take him deeper before sucking hard.

"Shit, Nico! Gods, what are you..." Percy squeezes his eyes shut. Score!

Pulling back, I suck as I slide him slowly out of my mouth then back in, slowly. In and out, over and over again until a few moments later Percy cries out and I taste the warm rush of seawater in my mouth. I swallow and wipe my mouth on the back of my hand before kissing him.

Percy's still panting but he rolls us over so I am on my back on the bed and he is on top of me. Leaning into me he whispers in my ear. "If I'd have known it was you calling me, I would have grabbed something from my bag. But you can't hurt me so I think we'll be fine."

He licks across my lips before slipping his tongue into my mouth. His hips rock gently against mine and I whimper. "Please, Perce. Please. I need you."

Percy smiles and sits up so that he can lower himself onto me. Gods! This is amazing. How did we go so long without this? I push my hips up and down. The tight, warm feeling is almost too much and within moments, I come screaming. "Percy! UGH!"

We cuddle together on the bed, panting and kissing. He turns to me, "Where have you been, Nico?"

Sighing, I answer him. "With my father. Training. Working on doing more of the things that he can do. Before … us, I had hit a plateau and I thought that I'd already reached the limit for the powers that I was going to have. But after we started... you know, I noticed that things were getting a little easier. I could summon a spirit without feeling like death warmed over afterward and shadow travel didn't kick my butt nearly as bad as it used to. So, my father decided that I should be tested to see what I could do. It's been so long since he has had a demigod child that he wasn't sure how much power I would have. He still isn't sure if all the things I can do are typical or whether I have found some way around the limitations."

Percy is silent for a moment. "Huh. That's cool. I remember at first, I couldn't get the water to answer me when I needed it. It took me being in extreme danger to get the water to answer. And water spirits... man they were a pain in the ass at first. Maybe it just took time for the power to grow."

"Yeah, maybe. It's not like I have anyone to compare with. Thank Hades for that!"

Percy chuckles. "So, am I spending the night here or am I supposed to go back to my bed before morning?"

I trace his jaw before lowering my mouth to his. "Stay. Stay with me."

He kisses my nose and smiles crookedly at me. "Sure thing, Ghost King."

I roll us back over so that I am holding him to the bed by his wrists. "What was that, Fish Boy?"

Percy's breath catches and I feel him start to harden beneath me. I lower my face to his and kiss him hard. "You know, Perce, it would serve you right if I tied you up to this bed and slept over there on one of the extras." I grin maniacally at him and laugh when he pales.

"You wouldn't..." He looks genuinely terrified.

"Of course not." I pause and kiss him gently. "Unless you like that kind of thing?" He looks confused and that makes me burst out laughing. I'm laughing so hard that I forget to keep hold of his wrists and he rolls us over again.

He leans down to kiss me and I see his eyes darken. "Show me how much you missed me, Nico. You don't have to be gentle with me, you know. Well, except for... but I trust you."

I blink. Seriously? Did he just ask me to be rough with him? Really? Percy must be out of his mind. You don't tell the son of Hades to have his merry way with you. I sigh. "Perce, I don't think that is a good idea."

"I want you to." He smiles that smile that melts me. Oh alright. Geez.

"If you're sure..." I trail off, giving him a chance to back out.

Instead of backing out, he runs his hands into my hair and kisses me hard as he pulls roughly on my hair. "Nico, the look on your face when you stormed across the room and slammed me into the wall... that was easily the hottest thing I've ever seen. You're the son of Hades, you're supposed to be bad ass." Percy chuckles and sits up on the bed, pulling me with him.

Fisting my hands into his hair, I pull him to his feet and bend him over the bed. I can hear his breath catch. He's enjoying this? I blink. Well, if he likes it then I guess it's alright. I position myself to slide into his heat. Gods, I am glad he is impervious to pain. No ordinary man would be able to do this without some serious lubrication.

Once inside Percy, I bend down to run my teeth along his neck. He moans and I begin to move my hips hard and fast, in and out.

"F-f-fuck me, Nico. Please, harder."

I feel like I am trying to make up for every day of the fourteen days that I spent without him. I am pounding my body into his so hard that I just know I won't last long. All too soon, the tight heat that is Percy makes me come- pulling his hair and cursing, of course.

We both move to kneel on the bed as I try to catch my breath. I bend down and take his erection into my mouth, licking and sucking all over him before straightening to kiss him hard on the mouth. I slip one arm around his shoulders to hold him to me and the other snakes down between us to wrap around his hard length. Up and down, I stroke him over and over.

Percy whimpers and pants. "Love you, Nico. Ugh. Love you so much."

My heart soars. "I love you too, Perce. Come for me. Come on me. Just COME NOW." I bite his shoulder hard enough to leave a mark but not hard enough to draw blood.

Percy screams my name and shudders as he covers my hips and stomach. We're wet and sticky but we don't care. We fall down in a jumble on the bed and I pull the black silk sheet up and over us. "What are we gonna do when you have to go back to your bed in the morning?" I gently run my hand through his hair.

Yawning, Percy answers. "I say we go straight to the showers and then deal with the questions after breakfast. If anyone even notices. We're not hiding." He gives me a stern look.

"Of course not." I smile at him and he raises his left hand to trace my cheek when I notice something on his hand. "Where'd you get this, Perce?" It's my ring. The original that my father made for me. It shows that I am his, that he claims me. How did Percy get it?

"Um, I found it tied onto my camp necklace which was shoved way under my bed, why?" Percy looks suspicious.

"I gave that ring to my father about a week ago. He was going to have a new one made for me and wanted to use that one as the model for this one." I hold up my right hand and we stare at the matching rings.

"Oh Gods. He had better not have been in my room, the creeper." Percy looks disgusted by the idea of Hades tip-toeing through his room in the dark while he slept. I have to admit, that is a pretty creepy thought, Hades slinking around someone's room in the dark while they sleep.

"He probably sent someone to leave it there for him. But do you know what this means? That is his mark, the sign that someone is under his protection."

And as usual, Seaweed Brain sums it up just right, "Woah!"


	3. It Will Be You Who Wears The Crown

A/N: First things first, I SOOOO don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians and I make no money what so ever while I play in Rick Riordan's sandbox.

It looks like new chapters will go up every weekend- if there are at least 5 SIGNED reviews for each chapter. I don't think that that is expecting too much. Cool? OK back to our story then. :) Updated A/N 11-16-2010: I'm sorry everyone but I had to disable annonymous reviews. Sorry a few bad apples ruined it for everyone.

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Why is something poking me? Still groggy from a dreamless sleep, I slowly open my eyes to find Percy poking me in the shoulder with his finger, over and over again.

"What do you want?" I grouch at him.

"If we're going to shower before breakfast, we need to do it now."

I get up and grab my clean clothes, towel and shower kit from the trunk at the foot of the bed. "Come on, then." I raise an eyebrow at him. He must have run back to his cabin at some point while I was still sleeping because he is carrying a blue (of course!) towel, his clothes and a little blue over night bag. Smiling, Percy follows me out the door to the shower and bathroom building.

I hate the whole idea of sun at camp sometimes. Walking to the shower, I nearly go blind while my eyes get used to the bright morning sun. I have been in the Underworld for two weeks and it is not very sunny there, to say the least. We enter the boys showers and Percy grabs the first stall. I take the second. There are a couple of Hephaestus guys showering down at the other end of the line of showers. I can tell they have been working in the forge because the water running out from their shower stalls is black with soot. Gross.

I scrub myself quickly because my stomach is killing me. I haven't eaten much in the last two weeks and it is catching up to me. After washing and rinsing, I towel off and start to dress in my usual clothes. I have a black t-shirt with white letters on the front that say "Where are we going and why am I in this hand-basket?" and black leather pants, since I plan on hitting the arena to practice today. When I am ready I gather my stuff and head for the door where Percy is waiting.

"I need to drop my stuff on my bed and get Tyson for breakfast. See you after breakfast?" Percy leans in and pecks me fast on the lips before running off in the direction of his cabin. I look around and see a few campers stop in their tracks and stare. Awesome. I roll my eyes.

"Don't you losers have something better to do!" I give them all the death glare as I yell at them and they all scatter. What a great way to start the day. Back at my cabin, I chuck all the dirty clothes off the floor into my footlocker and make sure my bed is made. Wouldn't want to fail an inspection. I chuckle. It's not like they actually walk into the cabin to really check. After a quick glance around to make sure everything is put away, I head for the dining pavilion.

Breakfast is the same as always. We get our food, dump a little into the fire for the Gods and sit to eat. My table is empty, of course. I painted it black last summer so that people got the hint that this is the Hades table and to give it a wide berth. I shovel bacon and scrambled eggs and toast into my mouth as fast as I can without looking totally insane. Percy catches my eye from where he is sitting with Tyson. He winks at me. I swallow my mouthful of food and nod back.

After breakfast, I am scheduled for sword fighting in the arena with the Athena kids. Great, maybe I'll find an excuse to whack Annabeth a good one. After sword fighting, I have to go to arts and crafts with the Poseidon and Demeter cabins. That is torture. At least Percy will be there, I guess. I suck majorly at arts and crafts but having to have those creepy Demeter kids all up in my space while I am being forced to make something... that is even worse. They always make flower pots or picture frames with hearts and rainbows on them and stupid shit like that. Urgh. I usually make a black pot holder or something lame that you can't really screw up.

Leaving the dining pavillion, I go back to my cabin to grab my sword and shield as well as my armor. Once I am strapped into the armor, it's off to the arena. I trudge to the arena and about halfway there I see Percy and Tyson in their swim trunks, headed for the beach.

"Hey, Nico!," Percy calls as he jogs over to me leaving Tyson to follow behind him. "We're heading down to the beach to swim since Tyson has to head back home tonight but we will see you for arts and crafts, right?" He snickers and I roll my eyes at him.

"It's not like I can skip it, which I totally wish I could."

Percy chuckles again before pecking me on the cheek. He is awful affectionate all of the sudden. What is this, Nico marking day? If he pees on my leg like a dog, I swear I will kick him.

"See ya in arts and crafts!" Percy and Tyson continue on their way to the beach. I finish the trek to the arena to find most of the Athena cabin is already there and dressed to fight. Great. I scan the crowd for Annabeth to see if she wants to lead the training exercises or if she wants me to. We don't have a resident hero teaching so each of the cabin leaders takes a turn. Ah! There she is. I make my way over to Annabeth where she is making sure the new kid in Athena cabin can see out of the helmet they have given him.

I clear my throat loudly and wait for her to look up. "Yes, Nico? Do you want to run the exercises today? I can do tomorrow, no biggie." She smiles at me. "Wow. Nice armor, let me guess, a gift from a certain Seaweed Brained Son of Poseidon?" She doesn't wait for an answer but turns to the assembled group and whistles loudly before yelling. "Nico's gonna start so shut it!"

I blink at her and start pairing off the group into twos, leaving Annabeth for myself. Once the others have all been given partners I give the directions, which are pretty simple really. "OK, we're doing to work on the pairing of the shield and sword today. You want to attack with your sword hand while protecting and deflecting with the shield. Keep track of how many hits to the armor you take. Begin!"

I turn to Annabeth and take a deep breath. Knowing Annabeth, she will try to wait me out so that I take the first move and she can then analyze my "strategy" and "style." Hm. Maybe I should try to wait her out. Covering myself with my shield, I begin to circle her but I don't attack. As the minutes drag on, I can see her getting annoyed. I smirk, she'll give in soon. And finally, she lashes out with her sword. I turn slightly and meet her sword with mine and a loud, metallic clang rings out. She pulls her sword arm back toward her shield so I take advantage of the moment to bring my sword back then down on her from above. Her shield goes up and I move fast to hold my shield on an angle so I am blocking both her sword and shield as my sword arm comes around from the side and connects with her armor. Point for me.

She is TICKED that I made the first hit, I can see it on her face. HA! Take that Annabeth! I make sure to keep my shield tight to my body as she begins to attack with gusto, anger plain on her face. Smirking, I continue to fend her off, waiting for another chance to sneak under or around her defenses. Finally, she is tiring and lets her guard down, I slowly edge my foot out and as she takes a wide defensive stance I slide my foot quickly around hers and knock her leg out from under her. She hits the ground wide eyed and doesn't defend herself quick enough. By the time she realizes what has happened, the tip of my sword is an inch from her throat and I am standing over her, straddling her prone body so that she can not regain her footing. Annabeth releases her sword and lets it fall to the ground next to her. I sheath mine and offer her a hand up.

"Not bad, Ghost Boy." She dusts herself off and checks her watch before reaching for her sword. "It's five till. Time to break for the day."

I nod and give the final directions. "Make a note of who you sparred with and how many hits you had. Bring that with you next time. Dismissed." I turn, removing my helmet to tuck it under my arm and begin the walk back to the cabin to stow my stuff before the semi-dreaded arts and crafts.

Annabeth trots up beside me. "Hey. That was really great sparring, thanks. Did Seaweed Brain tell you that you have cabin inspection with me tomorrow, right after breakfast?"

I shake my head. "No."

"OK, well I'll see you after breakfast tomorrow for the inspections." Annabeth goes running off in the direction of the Athena cabin and I head to mine. Kicking open my foot locker, I start tossing stuff in, removing the armor as I go. A few moments later I'm as ready as I am going to get for arts and crafts. I walk slowly to the arts and crafts pavilion, not in any hurry to get there.

Percy and Tyson are waiting just outside when I get there.

"Hey, how was your swim?," I ask, trying to make conversation. It is so much easier to talk to Percy without everyone else around.

"It was great! We rode the fish ponies and made a sand castle!" Tyson looks as excited as a little kid, weird when you consider he is a huge, burly, cyclops war hero.

"Cool. I bet it was a pretty epic sand castle." I try to smile at Tyson, better to have the huge little brother like me-right?

Percy reaches out and takes my hand. "Come on, let's go make my mom some more blue pot holders for her blue pot holder collection." He begins to lead us in. "What are you going to make, Tyson?"

"I think I will make your mom a mosaic. A round one to put under her plants."

"Nice!" Percy leads us to a table and gathers some blue fabric strips and we set to work on making some pot holders.

"Does your mom have a pretty big blue pot holder collection, Perce?," I ask without looking up from my oddly diamond shaped pot holder.

"Oh yeah. It may even be the largest blue potholder collection in the world. That is pretty much what I make in arts and crafts. I tried a Popsicle stick picture frame once and all I managed to do was glue my hand to the table while my frame fell apart. Some of us are just better off not even trying with arts and crafts."

"Yeah." I frown at my potholder. It is supposed to be SQUARE! What did I do wrong! Frustrated, I check out Percy's, his is sort of trapezoid shaped. Whew. At least I am not the only challenged one here. I glance around the room, Tyson is making his cement base for his mosaic with a round foil cake pan, stupid Demeter campers are making clay vases on the pottery wheels, hand sewing... curtains, maybe, and the Demeter boys are making window flower boxes. Damn show offs.

After finishing two odd looking blue potholders, Percy and I wait for Tyson to set his last piece of mosaic tile before we all head to lunch together.

"There! Done." Tyson stands grinning. His mosaic is a "fish pony." Nice.

Percy and I stand and stretch. "Come on, let's go to lunch. I am starving!" He takes my hand again and we make our way to the dining pavilion, Tyson chatting about peanut butter the whole way there. As we enter the pavilion, I notice a few people looking our way. It's not the most comfortable feeling ever, being stared at. I try to ignore them and focus on getting my food. Once I'm sitting at my table, I wish I was like Rachel. Maybe if I had a book or sketch pad, it would be easier to ignore them.

I stare down at my food and eat as fast as I can. As soon as I am done, I am off to my cabin. As the only living child of Hades, you'd think I would be pretty used to the campers staring but it felt different... worse, somehow. My afternoon is free today so I should probably go practice. Yeah, I think, the soothing darkness of the cabin and some practice or maybe a nap is just what I need.

Back at my cabin, I take off my boots and lay back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I love my cabin. I think it is the only one without windows. It's nice and dark but I can light the fire or the torch lights if I need the light. I remember being afraid of the dark as a child. How stupid is that? Now, I spend most of my time wandering around in the gloom of the underworld or the dark of night up here.

Staring at the ceiling and remembering being little, my consciousness slowly fades away until I'm swallowed by a blissful, dreamless sleep.


	4. And I'll Owe Everything to You

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out! I got sick last weekend then it seemed like every time I tried to post this, was not working! Geesh! Well, here it is. Hope it lives up to your expectations.

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Remind me why I have to do this, again? Annabeth and I are doing the cabin inspections. Urgh. She's taking notes and I am walking with her. We make it to my cabin and Annabeth stops.

I smirk at her, arms crossed, challenging her to step up. "Come on, Annabeth, don't you want to inspect my cabin?"

Taking a deep breath, she walks into the dark Hades cabin. Following her in, I scan the floor to make sure I didn't miss anything. Suddenly, something electric blue catches my eye near the foot of my bed. Inching towards it, I try to subtly sneak the offending garment into my footlocker without her noticing. What IS it? Whatever it is, it's Percy's, but what would he have left here last night or the night before? I take advantage of Annabeth looking around to stoop down to pick the offending piece of blue fabric up and put it in my footlocker. As soon as my hand lifts the blue fabric off the floor, Annabeth turns to look at me and I realize what the bright blue fabric is.

"Is that? Why are PERCY's boxers in YOUR cabin?" Her face is crunched up in concentration for a moment before realization dawns across her face. "Oh."

I toss the boxers into my footlocker and start for the door. "You can totally mark me down for leaving my clothes on the floor, Annabeth. Let's just pretend that you didn't see that, alright?" I fidget nervously as she leads the way to the next cabin while taking notes on her scroll.

In the next cabin, which is thankfully empty, she continues to take notes without looking at me before answering, "Well, the rule is to not be out of the cabins after lights out and not to be with a member of the opposite sex who is not your demigod half brother or sister. So I doubt the rule applies. Don't worry, Nico. I won't tell anyone that you two sleep together." She turns to smile shyly at me.

Wow. Annabeth Chase is NOT going to turn me in. Score! Maybe I should check in with my father and see if Hades has frozen.

Finishing the cabin inspections, Annabeth stops me before I can go back to my cabin to get my armor and weapons for "monster battle training."

"Chiron says there is going to be a game of capture the flag tonight after dinner. Should be fun. See you later." She turns and makes a beeline for the big house to turn in her cabin inspection report. It's almost like we're friends.

The day becomes a Percy-less blur. Monster combat, climbing the rock wall, lunch- I see him at his table but we don't get to talk, then foot racing and pegasus riding in the afternoon (Gods, I HATE that!). Finally, it is time for dinner. I smile at Percy as I take my place at my table and eat. Everyone is excited to hear Chiron announce the teams for capture the flag. This will be my first real game here as a claimed demigod, as the son of Hades. I'm wound so tight with anticipation that my legs bounce and I tap my fingers on the table trying to keep still.

"I'm sure that everyone is anxious to know how the teams will be divided for capture the flag tonight!" Chiron stands and announces, his voice booming across the pavilion. "Red Team will consist of the Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Iris, Hebe, and Ares cabins. Blue Team will have the Hades, Poseidon, Hermes, Apollo, Hecate, Hypnos, Morpheus, Nemesis and Janus cabins. The Leader for the Red Team will be Annabeth Chase of the Athena cabin. The Leader for the Blue Team with be Nico DiAngelo of Hades cabin. You have 30 minutes to be dressed for combat and meet down at your respective bases. Capture the flag begins in one half hour." Chiron leaves the pavilion and we all scramble.

My head is reeling. I have no idea how to be the Team Leader but at least I have Percy on my team. He rushes to my side, grinning like crazy.

"Hey Blue Team! Meet outside the Hades cabin in 15 minutes!" Percy yells, before taking my hand and dragging me towards the cabins. He hurries to the Poseidon cabin to put on his blue armor and to get Riptide and his shield. I race up the steps and into the dark of my cabin. Throwing open my footlocker, I run down a mental check list: armor, shield, sword and dagger-just in case. I start with my armor, encasing my legs and then my torso in the armor before attaching my weapons belt and sliding my sword and dagger into their respective places. I make sure to put my shield on the right way and then I tuck my helm under my arm. I take a deep breath and walk briskly out of the cabin where my teammates are already congregating.

Percy is already at the bottom of the steps waiting. He speaks lowly to me, "Our side of the woods is the side closest to the dining pavilion and Annabeth has the side closest to the hills. She will put her base up on the hill so that she can get a good vantage point to scout for attacks. Our side of the woods has the beach running along one side, why not put our base as close to the fireworks beach as we can. Then they have to cross the creek. I can defend and you can go for their flag with the raiding party."

Wow. Percy has really thought this out. I analyze his strategy for a moment. It is relatively sound. He works best near water so he should stick close to the beach or the creek. "Ok, the Apollo kids will be our archers, they will stay with Percy and the Morpheus kids, and the Nemesis kids. I will take the Hermes kids, Hecate kids, the Janus kids and the Hypnos kids- that means you need to WAKE UP, CLOVIS! Come on everyone, let's go set up our base. Follow Percy!"

Percy takes our flag and leads the group to a spot that is somewhat open on the edge of the forest and the beach. He begins to organize the defense party. Just as I turn to begin organizing the raiding party, Percy grabs my hand and pulls me to the side.

"Here. For luck." Something small and scratchy drops into my hand as Percy smashes his lips on mine then runs back up the small embankment that forms part of our "fort."

I stare at the object in my hand for a second as everyone around me Oohs and snickers. Percy has given me a tiny sand dollar. Huh. Cool. I slip it into my pants pocket under my armor and gather my raiding party just as the starting horn sounds.

Grinning, I turn to the Stoll brothers, "Ready? I lead and you two make sure everyone distracts the guarding force. I have a feeling that Annabeth will take a straight forward approach today."

We fan out and slink across our half of the woods as quietly as we can. After a few moments, we reach the creek. Trudging through the creek the water fills my boots and instead of feeling gross with wet feet, I feel... oddly more awake, and stronger. I feel great! Like I just woke up for a good night's sleep. I store that information away for later as we scan the woods for the Red Team base.

Then there it is. We find a bunker on the top of a hill, they have surrounded themselves with boulders and there is no one in sight but I know Annabeth would never leave her flag truly unprotected. I silently motion for the Stoll brothers to lead the charge on the front of their bunker while I begin to slink around to the back.

From the back of the bunker, I can see that the entire bunker is a circle of boulders and there will be no easy way in. Hmmm. Thinking back, I remember the day that Percy told me that Bianca was gone forever. If I get angry enough, I bet I could move the boulders. The death of my sister left a huge crack in the floor of the mess hall and the crust of the Earth.

I focus on being angry. I think about Annabeth kissing Percy and my fist clenches. Woosh! Looking up, I see Annabeth's defensive force scrambling as the boulders making up the back half of their bunker slide down the hill. Grinning maniacally, I race up the hill with my sword out. The Red Team defense has no time to gather themselves and in their confusion, my raiding party led by the Stoll brothers enters the bunker and keeps the Red Team demigods busy while I take the flag.

Hoisting the flag over my head, I hear the horn sound that signifies our win. My Blue Team raiding party begins to yell and scream, hoisting me up on their shoulders and carrying me towards the creek. As we reach the creek, I see Percy and the others from our team racing towards us. I'm set down on my feet in the middle of the creek with my sword still in one hand and the Red flag in the other. In the next moment, Percy crashes into me and I nearly drop my sword.

"You did it, Nico! We beat Annabeth!" Percy cheers before his lips crash into mine. There is dead silence for a moment as he kisses me, obviously caught up in the moment. As Percy pulls away, we're surrounded by nervous chuckles before Annabeth and Chiron make their way over to us.

"Great game everyone! Change into comfortable clothes and meet at the bonfire for songs and marshmallows with the Apollo cabin in one hour!" Chiron winks at Percy and canters off towards the big house.

I blink and Annabeth is in front of me with her hand out. I shake her hand quickly, still stunned at our win.

"Good strategy, Nico. Way to play the game." That is high praise coming from Annabeth.

"Well, Percy helped. It was a joint effort." I stammer.

"Huh. Well, I can't wait to see what other joint efforts you guys come up with. I can't believe how well played that was." She hugs and high fives us both before dashing off towards the cabins. I reach for Percy's hand and we slowly follow. We have an hour and it won't take that long to change. Why rush?

Dumping my stuff in my foot locker, I grab a clean shirt and quickly swap it for my sweaty one. We then stop at Percy's cabin so that he can put his things away and put on a clean change of clothes. I roll my eyes as Percy changes into a clean pair of board shorts, a clean BLUE t shirt and a pair of flip flops. Seriously? He looks a lot like his dad dressed like that.

We approach the bonfire just as the Apollo campers finish setting up the s'mores table. Percy grabs a stick and a handful of marshmallows and we sit close to the fire. I sit on the bench and he flops down in the sand to sit with his back against my legs. Oddly enough, no one seems to notice our seating arrangement so I try to relax and watch Percy begin roasting a marshmallow. Once the marshmallow is golden brown he leans back and offers it to me over his shoulder. I gently take the marshmallow. The Apollo kids soon start the singing and before we know it, it's lights out.

On our way to the cabins, I look around us to make sure no one is watching before grabbing Percy's hand and dragging him into the shadows. I want to try something. After the thing with the water, I wonder if Percy gets some fringe benefits from our fathers' approval too. Thinking CABIN, I step into a large shadow, dragging Percy behind me.

I step out of the shadow of my cabin door and look behind me. Low and behold, Percy stands behind me looking completely shocked.


	5. How Much Pain Has Quaked Your Soul

A/N: I so am not Rick Riordan so I don't own anything PJO. I just like to play in his sandbox sometimes. Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter and if you did not review... shame on you! :) Here is the next chapter and again, I hope you like it and be sure to leave a review with questions, comments or concerns.

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"What the FUCK was THAT?" Percy is rubbing his arms like he is trying to get warm, his whole body shivers.

"Shadow walking. You've done it before. Why should it be any different this time?" I frown at him as he continues to rub his hands up and down his arms and shake his head at me.

"Usually, I try to psych myself up a bit for it. I guess not being prepared for it makes it feel worse. That felt like being dipped in ice water and being covered in spiders at the same time. Eh!" He shivers one last time before walking toward my bed. Percy kicks his flip flops off under the edge of my bed and strips down to his boxers before climbing under the covers and yawning. "You coming?"

I strip out of the leather pants and black shirt after chucking my boots towards my trunk. Once I'm down to just my black boxer briefs, I slide into bed behind Percy and wrap my arms around him. He rolls over to face me, his eyes searching my face.

"What was with that stunt, you know, the shadow travel? I thought that you couldn't take anyone with you when you did that." He looks at me expectantly.

"I couldn't before. But today when I was in the creek, the water made me feel... better, energized even- if that makes any sense. It felt like either I was co-opting your power or maybe... maybe your dad was giving it to me. I don't see how either option is possible but it made me wonder if you could shadow walk, so I tried it."

Percy looks as confused and awestruck as I feel. "The water... That's exactly how I feel in the water! I wonder..." He seems to mull the situation over for a moment. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we need to test this some more. Do you swim?"

"Uh, not really. I don't remember what happened before the Lotus Hotel and I don't remember going swimming much there. Time was different there, so it felt like we were barely even there. Then we were sent to the school, and swimming was part of the gym curriculum but we didn't last long enough to get very good at it. The monsters found us before we really spent a whole lot of time there. I think I could manage to not drown but that's about it. Why? What are you thinking?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"We should get you in the ocean. Tomorrow afternoon, during free time." Percy grins, like this is an awesome idea.

"Alright, so you toss me in the ocean and then what?"

"I didn't say that I'd toss you in." Percy rolls his eyes at me. "I'll help you. Do you have trunks or do you need to borrow one of my extra pairs?" I can see the wheels in motion as Percy gets more and more excited about trying to drown me.

"I think I have some. Probably in the bottom of my footlocker."

"Awesome. So, I'll take you out during free period and we'll see what you can do. I promise you'll be fine." He brushes his lips across mine.

"Fine. But if I have to go in the water, you owe me at least an hour of sparring in the arena tomorrow. I seriously don't like the idea have having to go to the beach." I narrow my eyes at him.

"Sure. No problem. It should be fun. I heard you kicked Annabeth's butt the other day so I bet you can take me." I smirk.

"Of course I can take you, Nemo." I chuckle and snuggle closer to Percy.

"Not funny, Nico." Percy tries to sound mad but I can almost hear his smile. The big, brave hero of Olympus loves a little clown fish with a gimpy fin- so cute.

The next morning we're off and running after breakfast. Percy joins me and the Athena kids in the arena. Looks like I'll be getting that round of sparring that I was looking for. Excellent.

"Alright, everyone. We're going to spend a half hour in practice followed by a fifteen minute break. Then Percy and Nico are going to demonstrate effective ways to disarm your opponent for us. That will be the skill we'll be working on for the second half hour." Annabeth gives the directions and we all begin.

I raise my shield and roll my shoulders. This should be fun. "Ready, Percy?" I smile grimly at him and he nods before we raise our swords in preparation.

Circling Percy, I watch and wait, hoping that he will let his guard down. Finally, he strikes. CLANG! The sound of Stygian iron meeting celestial bronze rings out loudly. But Percy doesn't pause. First he strikes high and then low. I have to jump back a little to meet his low blow with my blade. We spar pretty hard, neither one of us landing a blow on the other's armor. Sweat is running down my spine as I finally see the window that I have been looking for. Percy is getting frustrated and he slashes violently at my midsection. I duck then slam my sword into his shield so hard that he stumbles backward. As he flails trying to regain his balance, I kick him, hard in the breastplate- so that he goes down. His helmet rolls off his head as he hits the ground. The moment that he is down in the dirt, I step over his body and place the tip of my sword at his throat.

"Do you yield, Nemo?" I smirk menacingly at him, feeling the other campers start to back away from us due to the dread that it just rolling off of me. It's a children of Hades thing, we radiate the feeling of fear or dread which keeps others from getting too close to us- usually.

"Hey, I yield Ghost King. You wanna help me up?" Percy smiles easily back at me. He seems unaffected by the creepy feelings of dread that have the others all worked up. I sheath my sword and offer him my hand. As I pull him to his feet, his body ends up flush against mine.

Percy leans in and whispers in my ear, "That was hot, Nico."

Trying to ignore all the on lookers, I wind my free hand into his hair and slip my tongue into his mouth, kissing him hard. When I finally pull back, I can hear Annabeth's watch beeping to signal the break. The loud noise breaks the spell and everyone rushes off to get water. Percy and I make our way over to the water cooler last. Just as we get our water, Annabeth approaches us.

"Hey, are you two ready to give the disarming demo after the break? I need you to show them at least three good examples of disarming an opponent. Think you can hand that?" She smiles at us in challenge. I roll my eyes at her.

"Yeah, Annabeth, I think we can handle that." I smile at Percy and he grins back at me. Everyone begins tossing their cups into the trash and Annabeth signals for us to step up in front of the group.

Percy begins by explaining the lesson. "When you are fighting an opponent, the first goal in your mind needs to be disarming them. If they don't have a weapon and you do, you have a much better chance of defeating them." He nods at me and I step up. Percy motions for me to take a swing at him. He parries the blow and circles the blade back down towards the ground before pushing his hilt up just a bit so he can stomp down on my blade. The sword is yanked from my hand and I step back to signal that I yield.

Percy grins at me with his cute lop-sided smile as I pick up my sword and grit out, "Again."

I strike his shield hard so that he can't concentrate on his sword hand as hard as he needs to. There! Riptide droops slightly in his hand. As quick as I can, I push my shield into his and knock him to the ground. I put the tip of my blade against the wrist of his sword hand and kick Riptide out of his limp hand. Breathing hard, I glance at his face and find him breathing hard, a strange look in his eyes. Like he's... turned on by my kicking the shit out of him in front of everyone? No way. I step back and help him up.

This time Percy lunges at me without any pretext. I parry and turn, then I see the stadium seats behind him in the arena. Perfect. I begin to push him back towards the stone steps that act as seats in the arena. Blow for blow, our swords meet over and over again. Finally Percy is backed up to the base of the steps. I grin maniacally and force him to take that last step back. BAM! CLANG! Percy is now sprawled across the hard stone steps and Riptide has clattered on the steps out of his reach. I place the tip of my sword at his throat and put my foot on his pelvis just above the bits that I want to keep intact.

"Do you yield, Fish Boy?" I grin at him.

Percy raises his hands in surrender and chokes out, "Yes!"

I sheath my sword and reach out to help him up. The look in his eyes... it's like the look he gets when we've been making out and he's decided that it isn't enough. Weird. Maybe I am a bad influence on the son of Poseidon.

Percy turns to the others. "Okay, so the main thing is to use your equipment, your surroundings and your opponent's weaknesses to get the weapon out of their hand. Everyone pair back up and keep track of how many times you disarm your partner." Everyone turns to begin the exercise and Percy bends over, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. After a moment, he straightens and we walk over to the water cooler.

Percy and I down our water and drop to the ground to watch the others for a while. I'm soaked with sweat, I need to change before Arts and Crafts.

Warm breath tickles my ear, sending shivers down my spine, as Percy leans over and whispers in my ear. "That was seriously hot, Nico. We should play rough more often."

Stunned, I turn to face him. I blink.

Percy chuckles, "What? It's hot. It's like you're more... you when you're fierce like that. Probably the whole son of Hades thing again."

I roll my eyes at him. "Well, duh. It makes sense that I am into it. But you... you're the nice guy. The hero Percy Jackson who would do anything for a friend and helps hapless seas creatures in distress. It's weird that you're into it." I pause before looking back at him, "Isn't it?"

He laughs lightly before tossing our cups into the trash, standing and pulling me to my feet. "Nico, maybe I'm becoming more like you and you're becoming more like me. You know like old people and their dogs." He laughs again before we hear the conch that signals the end of this activity period. "C'mon Ghost King. Let's go get cleaned up before we're late to Arts and Crafts. I know how much you love Arts and Crafts!"

I groan but follow him back towards the cabins. Back at the Hades cabin, I dig through my trunk. All the way in the bottom, I find a pair of swim trunks. I pull them out and change into them. Looking down, I see that they are longish, board shorts, I think they call them. They're black with pockets and a large stylized skull with swirls of tribal tattoo looking stuff around it on the right leg. Not bad. Everything is covered and I don't look too dumb. I look through my trunk for a clean shirt. Smiling, I put on one of my favorites. It's black with white lettering that says: "I'd love to have a battle of wits with you but you appear unarmed." I continue to dig through the trunk to see if there is anything else useful in there. In one corner I find a pair of black flip flops and a pair of black sunglasses. Wow. Who says harpies aren't good at packing a camp trunk. Nice. I may even thank my father for having them pack it. I'm jogging down the steps on my cabin just as Percy walks up with a backpack full of I-don't-know-what.

"Ready to go pretend to make something, Nico?" We laugh lightly and make our way over to the Arts and Crafts Pavilion.

We settle in for an hour of unadulterated torture at the pottery wheels. Turning blobs of clay on the wheels in front of us, we routinely wet our hands and move the clay around but never actually shape anything. Percy chatters on about this afternoon and it helps the time go faster.

"I have towels and goggles for you, just in case. I had to get some from Annabeth, I never needed them. Seriously, she knows where you can kind ANYTHING. I figure we'll start small. See if you can see with out the goggles, then work our way up."

Finally, we hear the conch signal the start of lunch. We return our wet blobs of clay to their plastic wrappings and wash our hands.

"Ready for lunch, Seaweed Brain?" I smile at Percy and pull my glasses back over my eyes before taking his hand. We talk hand in hand to the dining pavilion. This time barely anyone looks up. Good. The less notice we get the better. I HATE being stared at. We sit at our respective tables and eat. The moment lunch is over, Percy yanks me up from the table and I nearly choke on the grape in my mouth.

Coughing, I turn to him. "In a hurry much, Percy? Geez..."

He drags me all the way to the beach where he chooses a spot for our stuff. I can see some nearby hippocampii watching him as he puts down the bag. I wonder if they are talking about him like he says the fish do.

"Shirt off. Flip flops and glasses off." Percy orders. I remove the items and wait for further instruction. "Turn around." I turn my back to him and feel something cold and slimy on my back.

Looking over my shoulder, I ask, "What is that?"

"Sunscreen. I don't know if you burn but it won't be fun if you do." Percy coats me from head to toe in the sunscreen then hands me the bottle so that I can repeat the process for him. When we're finally finished he leads me to the water. "Alright, we're going to walk out without holding hands. That way I know it is you and not something that I am doing. We're going to walk out until the water covers our heads. Don't be afraid. I'll be right in front of you. Ready?"

I nod and take a few steps into the water.


	6. How Much Love Would Make You Whole

A/N: Hope everyone had a great holiday season- whatever you celebrate! Remember that I own nothing and make no money off this. 'Kay? ;) And you can totally Google the info that Annabeth is going to give the boys in this chapter. It is totally legit. Promise! Now to see the answer to this equation: Ghost King + water = ?

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I walk into the water facing Percy, who is walking backward into the surf. The water feels warm on my legs but that I don't really feel the tingly, energy boosting feeling that I felt in the creek. We walk into the water until it reaches my shoulders. Stopping, I take a deep breath.

"You alright, Nico? Just a bit more and you'll be all the way under. Ready?" Percy smiles encouragingly.

I nod and take a few more steps. We're standing on the sandy floor and the water must be over my head because it more than covers my eyes. I take stock. My eyes are open and they don't feel any different- guess I didn't need the goggles after all. Cool. Just then, my mouth opens almost involuntarily and I take a breath. I can still breathe! My eyes bug out and I hear what sounds like Percy laughing at me. Very funny, Fish Boy. I turn and scowl at him, arms crossed across my chest. The jerk. Then he points up and kicks off the sandy bottom towards the surface. Not really knowing what I'm doing, I follow his lead. I take in air and try to keep my head above the water once I surface.

"Alright, that was good. Let's go back down and this time I want you to concentrate on being dry. Just think- dry. Ready?" I nod and follow him back down. I think about being dry as I sit cross legged on the bottom across from Percy, who appears to be ignoring the fish that swim by. After a minute or two he puts his hands out and I reach out to put my hands in his.

Woosh! I look around at the sound and inadvertently yell, "What the-"

"Relax!" Percy laughs, holding my hands tighter. "I'm just sharing. Your shorts stayed dry, by the way." He nods at my board shorts and sure enough they are dry.

"Cool. What do you mean sharing?"

"I've only ever made a bubble around myself or someone I was touching before so I thought we should try it and see if we could hold one around us both without having to touch. Wanna try?"

"Sure. What do I need to do?"

"Just think about a bubble around us both and let go of my hands. I think it'll hold." I drop his hands and look above us. The bubble does hold. Nice.

Leaning back on my hands, I continue to look around us as the bubble holds the water off of us. "That's pretty cool, Percy. Is this the biggest bubble you've done?"

He nods. "Yeah. I bet we can use each other like a battery or whatever, you know, if we're together we can boost each others gifts."

I think about it. He may be right. "Maybe, Percy. We should try it with my powers sometime. See if I can summon with your help and maybe not pass out afterward. That could be useful."

Just then a little fish swims up to the edge of the bubble near Percy. I can hear a faint whisper, "Son of the Sea God, there is a girl calling for you and the Prince of Hades on the beach."

"Oh shit! Was that the fish?" I blurt out. Percy's eyes get huge and round.

"You heard that?" I nod. "Oh man! Now you're going to hear everything they say. No more trips to the aquarium for us! We better see who it is, but I bet it's Annabeth. I told her we were coming here this afternoon."

We kick off from the bottom and when we reach the surface, Annabeth is indeed on the beach yelling for us.

"Percy! Nico!"

Percy starts swimming for the dock that Annabeth is standing on and I follow slowly after him. Percy climbs onto the dock first then gives me a hand up.

"Hey Annabeth." Percy turns to her and I just nod at her.

"Hey, I was just wondering how it was going." Percy plops down on the dock so Annabeth and I do the same.

Percy fills her in on his "experiments" and Annabeth looks interested. She nods absently as he tells her about me being able to breath under water, hear the fish and everything. I don't think it is that impressive but then again, I can't think of anyone else who can share power like Percy and I can.

I look up as Percy asks her, "So, what do you think?" We both stare at Annabeth, waiting to see what she has to say.

"I think you need to see if Nico can handle it in the water on his own. Just to be safe. Try to stay dry and breathe under water, Nico." She grins maniacally and proceeds to kick me off the dock and into the water. That bitch!

I hit the bottom and take a breath before pushing hard towards the surface. When I break the surface, Percy is there offering me a hand up.

"Well?" He looks at me expectantly.

I shrug. "I could breathe." I look down and touch my shorts. "Yep, dry. Any other bright ideas, Annabeth?" I return to my seat on the dock and glare at her.

Annabeth smiles at me. "Nope. You passed. Did you guys know that some scholars believe that Achilles was gay?"

Well, that was unexpected. Percy and I look at each other and shake our heads before turning our attention back to Annabeth.

"Yes. They believe that Patroclus was his lover, whose death he avenged even though the Gods told Achilles that it would cost him his own life. Achilles and Patroclus were one of the few gay couples in ancient Greece that may not have had a defined eromenos and erastes." Seeing the blank looks on our faces, she continues. "The ancient Greeks did not see love or sex the way that we do. Like now, you two would be called gay but I would be called straight, some people are called lesbians. The ancient Greeks didn't see it that way. In a relationship- between two men, two women, a man and a woman- there was the protector and the protected or the masculine one and the feminine one. Many gay relationships at that point in history, and the straight ones too, happened between a person in their thirties and a teenager. It's just the way it was. In the straight couples, it was so men of standing could have children and in the gay couples it was thought that the teenage boy was prettier and therefor the eromenos. I don't know all the reasoning behind it all but that's how it was. But the historians are pretty sure that Achilles and Patroclus were about the same age and they were both great warriors."

"Huh. Well, you learn something new every day, I guess." Percy looks a little shocked to discover another thing that he has in common with Achilles.

"Yeah well, there is no eromenos here." I make sure that Annabeth gets the gist of my statement by glaring at her.

She has the nerve to laugh at me. "Of course not. You two are both so …. well, you're both demigod children of the big three, that's for sure. Don't worry, Nico. I know that you two are equals. Just like Achilles and Patroclus."

"It's seriously weird that you know all of this, Annabeth." How does she know everything, anyway?

"It's called called reading, Nico. You should try it, sometime." She laughs and mock punches me in the arm. "C'mon you two, it's nearly time for dinner. You better go get changed." Annabeth helps Percy up and he helps me to my feet. As we walk off the dock and onto the beach, Percy runs to grab his backpack before coming back to Annabeth and me. He digs in the bag as we walk and finds my t-shirt and sunglasses, which he hands back to me. We walk the rest of the way back to the cabins hand in hand chatting easily with Annabeth.

Later, after dinner, Percy and I go back to the beach. We sit in the sand and look out over the waves.

"I need to IM my mom tomorrow. Just to check on her. Her book should be out soon and I know she's excited. You should be there for it, she was worried about you when we didn't hear from you for two weeks." Percy bumps my shoulder with his.

"She was worried about me?" It feels weird to know that Mrs. Blofis was worried about me. I'm not really used to having adults care that much. I have my friends in New Orleans but they are used to going months without seeing me. To worry after only two weeks... what a mom thing to do.

"Yeah, you know how she is. She was worried that you could be hurt or that you weren't being fed properly. That kind of thing."

"Oh, wow. I didn't mean to worry her. I guess I'm not used to having people worry about me." I rub the back of my neck self consciously. I guess I should have realized that Percy's family is kind of my family too now.

Percy wraps his arm around my waist and hugs me to his side. "You better get used to it then. I have something for you. But you have to promise to not freak out. My dad sent it with Tyson. It's only kind of a big deal." I look into Percy's eyes and see that he's nervous. Nervous? He pulls something out of his pocket and swallows hard. I turn to face him.

"Are you alright? I'm not going to freak out. What is it?"

Percy grabs my left hand and slides something warm onto my ring finger. "It's from my dad. He sent them with Tyson, there's one for each of us. I think they, our dads, meant for us to wear them. Now we both have one from both of them. I had them but I didn't even look into the box until this morning."

Percy is rambling so I look down at my left hand. On the ring finger is a thin bluish silver band engraved with blue-green tridents. Posiedon's symbol. I put both of my hands out in front of me. I have the mark of Poseidon on my left and the mark of Hades on my right. He's right. They planned this. I'm wearing the ring on my left to show I belong to Percy and his dad … like... like I'm married into their family. Holy Hades! Percy has my old ring from my father on his left. My eyes jerk up to meet Percy's.

"You're freaking out, aren't you?" He smiles a little but still looks as if he expects me to rub his face in the sand or something.

"I'm the son of Hades, I don't freak out. It kinda worries me that our fathers may have actually talked and planned this."

"Oh. Is that all? I thought you'd be freaked about about something else... " Percy's voice trails off and he turns back to look out over the water. The sun is going to set soon.

"What is there to freak out about?" I slide my arm around his waist.

"Well, the ring is for your left hand. And I didn't want you to think... I mean... I-" I save Percy from his stuttering by taking his left hand and sliding off the ring that Hades gave him.

Looking into his eys, I clear my throat a little. "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon." I pause and I can hear Hades' voice in my mind, giving me the right words to say. "I love and respect you, I see you as my equal and I offer you shelter within my father's house." I slide the skull ring onto his left hand ring finger. He's staring at me, kind of like he is in shock. I smile, sliding my hand into his hair to pull his face to mine. I press our lips together lightly before pulling back to check his expression.

Percy snaps out of the daze and lifts my left hand to his mouth. His lips slide across the warm metal of his ring and he clears his throat before repeating my words back to me. "Nico diAngelo, Prince of Hades, I love and respect you, I see you as my equal and I offer you shelter within my father's house." Then his lips meet mine, but not before I notice that the rings on our left hands are warm to the touch. Oh yeah, our fathers are totally up to something. And I doubt Zeus would be a fan of whatever it is.

Percy pulls back to look me in the eye, "Why do I get the feeling that I know now what Kermit the Frog feels like? Did it feel almost like Hades was talking through you? Like you were a puppet?" I nod. "Well, great. Hope this … whatever it was makes them happy. Because your dad is SO not my biggest fan." Percy chuckles and pulls me closer.

"Yeah, Posiedon and Hades stand together on this- isn't that what they said? This must be how they joined together. Through us. Like allies."

"Whatever works for them, I guess. Did you mean what you said?" Percy looks a little unsure.

"Yes. I meant it. I love you. We're together. Whatever that means to you. Just as long as you can deal with all the weird stuff that comes with me being the son of Hades." I frown. "Do you realize that you called me the Prince of Hades and so did that fish earlier? What's with that? I mean, I am, technically but no one ever calls me that."

"I didn't even think about it. What do you mean, you are technically?" Percy frowns.

I grin. "Well, I am officially the only SON of Hades currently in existence. So, I am his heir but he's immortal so it isn't a big deal. He has no immortal children, that I know of, so I am kind of it. And I think I would know if he had ANY other kids, not just immortal ones."

"Wow. Cool." Percy smiles before bringing our lips together again. I feel his tongue slide across my lips and I part them a little to deepen the kiss. Mmm. When we part I notice the sun going down behind us.

"We should get back before it gets dark." I take his hand and lead him back to his cabin, towards the setting sun.


	7. You're My Guiding Lightning Strike

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me boys and girls. I've had a hard year. This time last year, my dad began to decline as his cancer entered the end stage. We lost my dad in May. Then his mom suddenly died of a heart attack in August, 2 days before my birthday. It's been a long hard year and I'm glad that I can still seek refuge by playing in Rick Riordan's sandbox.

* * *

After dinner Percy and I head back to the Hades cabin. I rummage through my footlocker, tossing clothes at him.

"Why do I need to change again?" He grumbles.

"We're going out. It's easier to slip into cemeteries and stuff in the dark when you're dressed in black. It makes you less noticeable. Put these on."

I'm pulling on my own clothes. Ah. The comfort of non-camp clothes. I've got black pants with a chain as a belt, a wallet chain and a light black long sleeve t-shirt. I check on Percy and have to try not to laugh. He is not made to wear black. Percy has on one of my extra long sleeve shirts and a pair of black jeans. He looks so uncomfortable and the clothes that are baggy on me are SO not on him.

"Well, we'd better get going." I lead him to the door and poke my head out to check for those supposed harpies that patrol the grounds. I drag Percy out the door and into the shadow of the cabin thinking of our destination. We stumble out of the shadow of a large tree in the middle of a huge cemetery.

"Oh gods! What is this place? It's like something out of a zombie movie." Percy looks like he might have a panic attack.

I survey the burying grounds for anyone else who might be out. "This is Ye Olde Burying Ground in Salem, Massachusetts. It's the second oldest cemetery in the United States."

Percy looks down at his feet and jumps to the left a bit when he realizes that he is standing on a grave. "Oh no. Tell me we're not raising zombies or something."

"We might. This cemetery is really old but it's still consecrated ground so there is little to no magic already here to draw from. It's all me when I work here. It'll be a good testing ground. Come on." I lead the way through the headstones to a stone that I know like an old friend. The woman lying below it is actually an old friend.

We arrive at the grave of Ellianor Hollingsworth. She was a pub owner in the 1600's who was accused of witchcraft and whose daughter was tried and killed during the Salem Witch Trials. She was also um... close to my dad. Gross on so many levels but she gives good advice for a ghost.

I kneel next to her grave and pull Percy by the hand to kneel next to me. He's still looking pretty dubious of the whole thing. "I've called her spirit on my own before. But I think we will get a faster answer if you share with me. She'll have an idea of what to try next."

"Who is she?" Percy takes my hand in his and glances around.

"Ellianor was a woman that knew my dad, years ago. She owned a pub in the 1600's and she met my dad there. At one point she was accused of witchcraft but it didn't stick. My dad was first attracted to her because she had power. She was a psychic. A medium."

"Oh. So, she could see dead people and your dad thought it was hot. Creepy. What do we do now?"

I roll my eyes at Percy's excellent summation. "We hold hands and send the power out as we call her. Here goes nothing." I take a deep breath and begin to send out the power into the ground. "Ellianor Hollingsworth, come forth and speak to me."

Almost immediately, I feel the presence. "Little Nico. How nice to see you again and you've brought a friend." I look up into the ghostly face of Ellianor Hollingsworth.

"Yes. This is Percy. My... " I trail off unsure what to call him.

"Your consort. Yes, I know. I have seen your father recently, you know." Ellianor has a smug expression that shows that she knows more than I'd like her to.

"Yeah... consort. Right. Anyway, we have an experiment that we'd like to try but I wanted your help. I want to see if Percy is gaining something from being tied to me. Can he amp up my own powers or even use them if he wanted to? How do you think we should test it?"

The smug expression is replaced by a thoughtful one. "Well. That is a question, isn't it. Look out over the burying ground. Does it look or feel different to you with him here?"

Standing, I survey the slightly rolling grounds. It does feel different tonight, now that she's mentioned it. "Yeah. The air feels … heavier than usual. Like something is waiting."

"Good. Do you see anything?" I look out over the stones, halfway through the scan Percy jumps next to me.

"ACK! Why is that woman out on the sidewalk dressed funny? Where did she come from?" My head snaps to look where Percy is pointing. There is a ghost in a Victorian gown complete with parasol and bonnet walking down the street.

"What does she look like?" I try to remain calm as I question Percy.

"Uh, she has a goofy hat on and an umbrella made of lace and a big poofy dress. And... she's a ghost isn't she?" He trembles a bit so I tighten my grip on his hand.

"Yep. Ghost. Do you see anything else?" I turn my attention back to the cemetery. It literally feels like the whole place and everyone in it are just waiting for me. "Perce, can you bear with me a bit longer? I want to try something."

"Sure. I trust you." Percy tremors again but he squeezes my hand.

"Tell them to rise. All of them." I turn to look into his eyes and we nod together, both of us on the same page.

"Rise!" We call out to the spirits of those long buried in the old burying ground and at first nothing happens. I squeeze Percy's hand and close my eyes, willing my power out over the ground. When I hear Ellianor gasp, I know that it's worked. I open my eyes and look out at the burying ground which, to me, is lit up like a Christmas tree. There is a ghost or two glowing at each headstone and all of their eyes are trained on me. Nice.

"Oh man, Nico!" Percy is shocked by what we've done.

"Thank you. Return to your rest." I will the spirits back to where ever they came from. Turning, I find Ellianor smiling. "What else should we try?"

"Why not call one of your legion?"

I know what she means. Undead soldiers from Hades. I've done it before. But only a general call. Never just one. And the legion are meant to be fighters with no remnant of their former personality. The idea strikes me that maybe I could actually raise a zombie. A spirit in control of their body. I begin walking, drawn to the grave of a soldier from the Revolutionary War. Percy follows along, clinging to my hand.

"Stand on the other side of the grave." I move him into place and take both of his hands in mine over the grave. Sending out the power to call the man to serve, I begin. "Rise and come to me. Rise and serve again." I put everything that I can into it. I envision a soldier in militia regalia with clear eyes and thought processes. Not a shambling corpse or skeleton. But a real zombie with spirit in it.

"I heed the call and I shall serve." The deep, gravely voice calls me out of my thoughts so see a man standing on the grave. "How can I be of service?"

I blink once before looking the man over. He's nearly perfect. His clothes look like rags, his skin looks gray but intact. His eyes are clear and bright. He speaks.

"Tell me your name, sir?" Percy has frozen. I spare a glance to be sure that he will make it through this encounter. Yeah. We'll be going home to bed after this.

"I was Colonel Ezra Newhall, sir."

Wow. He has memory recall. I have never seen a zombie so amazing.

"Thank you. Can you tell me what year it is?" I decide to test his awareness by seeing if he believes it to be the time of his life or if he knows he was put back into his body well after the fact.

"I can't say that I know, sir. The time slips away on the other side." He looks down at me as if he knows that this is a test. Touche.

"Yes. It does. Thank you for heeding the call. You've done me a great service. Please, return to your rest with my thanks." I envision the power dissipating and returning to me. As I watch the ground boil up to swallow the now lifeless body into the soil, I feel faint and drop to my knees. Percy leaps to my aid.

"Are you all right? Did you do too much? Do you need anything? How can I help?" Percy runs a hand across my forehead, swiping my bangs back from my eyes.

I pant. "I'll be fine in a minute. I'm just a little light headed. I've had worse."

"He's right. He'll be right as rain soon, dearie." My head snaps up to see Ellianor floating next to us.

"What are you still doing here? Usually the power just severs when I go down." I struggle to get to my feet.

"Well, you aren't exactly out. Are you? You're standing and we're speaking. You've done quite well tonight. I think you've found your answer. You and the boy share a bond. The two of you together... the sum is greater than the parts. I must be off and you should get some rest. Until we meet again, Nico."

Ellianor fades away leaving Percy and I staring after her. Percy clears his throat. "Do you think you can get us back or should we call Mrs. O'Leary?" His face is etched with worry.

"I'm fine. Let's go. Just to be safe, though, make sure you think of the cabin. Envision the cabin and it might help us get there if I'm you know, out of it." We walk into the shadow of the big tree, Percy helping me but at least I'm moving of my own accord. When we step out of the shadow, I look around, confused.

We're standing outside the Poseidon cabin. This is not where I was aiming. "Uh, how did we get here?" Percy drags me out of the shadows and quickly into the cabin before closing the door.

"I thought of the cabin and home. My cabin." Percy leads me to his bed and urges me to sit before he goes digging through his footlocker. "I'm going to stick a note on the door for Annabeth. I'm sure when we don't show for breakfast, she'll be the one to come looking for us. We're not getting out of bed tomorrow. You need to rest and recover." He scrawls a note on a scrap of paper and sticks it to the outside of the door with a push pin.

Percy returns to the bed and carefully removes my boots. He works quickly but gently as he removes my clothes. "Do you want me to sleep on one of the other beds?" He asks with a worried expression.

"No. Sleep with me. Please." I slip under the blanket and make room for him. Percy quietly undresses to his boxers before slipping into the bed behind me to wrap his arms around me.

I drift off to sleep almost immediately wrapped in the warm cocoon of Percy's arms. Neither of us is prepared for what is awaiting us in our dreams.


End file.
